Rain washes out harvest plans

Tuesday

Oct 27, 2009 at 12:01 AMOct 27, 2009 at 7:49 PM

Bad weather may force some central Illinois farmers to revise their holiday plans. With rainy weather prolonging what's already been a slow-motion harvest, some producers are already anticipating having to work in their fields well into December. "We definitely won't be done until the middle of December - at the earliest," said Chillicothe farmer Jim Rumbold. "The one thing I'm worried about then is snow. Snow and a combine don't mix," he said.

Steve Tarter

Bad weather may force some central Illinois farmers to revise their holiday plans.

With rainy weather prolonging what's already been a slow-motion harvest, some producers are already anticipating having to work in their fields well into December.

"We definitely won't be done until the middle of December - at the earliest," said Chillicothe farmer Jim Rumbold. "The one thing I'm worried about then is snow. Snow and a combine don't mix," he said.

For now, Rumbold and other area farmers just have to wait. "We definitely won't be out in the fields this week," he said, noting a forecast that calls for continued wet weather in the Peoria area.

Much of the area corn has moisture registering in the 26-30 percent range, said Rumbold. "It's not like past years where the corn dried down to 15 percent (moisture content) in the field. You could just stick it in the bin," he said, referring to the 15 percent moisture level when corn can be stored.

"Rain is a two-edged sword at harvest time," said Patrick Kirchhofer, manager of the Peoria County Farm Bureau. "The crop, itself, is wet, but you also have to let the fields dry out. That usually takes a few days," he said.

A few days of dry weather, that is - something that hasn't been too common lately in central Illinois.

"I think Nov. 1 may be the soonest farmers will be able to get back to harvesting," said Kirchhofer, adding that wet conditions give rise to crop concerns.

"Diseases and mold - they come into play when there are wet/cool conditions and we're this late in the season," he said.

Monday's crop report issued by the Illinois Department of Agriculture noted that only 11 percent of the state's corn crop was harvested, compared to 44 percent at the same time last year. Over the past five years, the average percent of corn harvested at this time is 77 percent.

Thirty-three percent of the Illinois soybean crop has been harvested, as of Monday, compared to 74 percent at the same time last year. According to the five-year average posted in the report, at this time 86 percent of the state's soybean crop would normally be harvested.

Wet weather requires adjustments, said Matt Hughes, who farms in McLean County. "You can't harvest soybeans when it's wet. The pods have to dry out in order to get the beans out of them," he said.

While farmers can get back to harvesting corn more quickly, "You've still got a wet crop to dry down," said Hughes. The drying process will not only take additional time, but it will cost farmers money - for the fuel that powers the driers, he said.

While Dan Farney of Morton is well along with harvesting his soybean crop - more than 60 percent completed - he admits having a long way to go on the corn side. "We might be around 10 to 20 percent done," he said.

Continued delays also will make it harder to do tillage work on fields after corn is harvested, said Farney.